During the assembly of an automobile or other such vehicle, it is often necessary to install components (such as the steering shaft or the like) that extend from the engine compartment to the passenger compartment, usually through a wall opening provided between the two compartments. In such cases, it is desirable to seal any interfaces between the components so that dust, fumes, and other foreign materials do not contaminate the passenger compartment from the engine compartment. While known methods provide for various types of seals between compartments, such methods are unsatisfactory in that they are often unable to accommodate variations in design geometry and/or are difficult to align during assembly.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide more robust methods for sealing and aligning automotive components in conjunction with their respective pass-throughs. Other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.